WhiteHorse 5k series - race one
Cheltenham and County Harrier Dave Roper took individual honours and led his team to victory in the opening road race of the White Horse 5K series.
Roper has been in fine form and approached the race with confidence after finishing fourth in the national elite duathlon championships last month.
On this occasion he was happy to let Tipton's Ian Williams take the early pace, and by the end of the first mile the pair had pulled clear of the chasing pack.
Looking relaxed, Roper was content to sit behind his rival until there were around 400 metres left, when he chose to push on.
Sensing victory was there for the taking, he moved up a gear again with 200m to go and extended his lead to four seconds.
Roper was rewarded with a new personal best time of 15 minutes, eight seconds and should be looking to break the 15-minute barrier this summer.
There was a three-way battle for third place between Harvey Speed (Birmingham University), Gary Hope (Severn AC) and Cheltenham's Andy Prophett.
The three were still together with half a mile to go, but with 200m left Prophett used his track speed to kick clear and finish in 15.32.
Hope stayed with the chasing group all the way, holding on in the mass-sprint finish for fifth and winning the veteran's Over-40 award in a club record 15.39.
Jon Norris made it three Harriers in the top 10, while good packing saw Andy Kaighin in 17th, Elliot Prince in 18th and Roger Mullins in 20th to ensure Cheltenham took the team race.
The Harriers also enjoyed success in the ladies' race, with Laura Kent's 17.57 taking victory in the V35 category.
James Rose hacked 45 seconds off his personal best to finish 16th in 16.37.
Severn club-mate and retiring distance captain Alex Hope (24th) set a club V45 record (16.49), while 14-year-old Kyran Hale debuted in senior racing.
Before the race Hale's coach Rob Cytlau advised him to stay behind Alex Hope, but the youngster mistook the Hope brothers and followed the faster Gary.
At one mile he was fourth, then suffered in having to hang on bravely to finish 27th. He won the Under-15 prize in a new course age group record.
Severn's second-placed team was completed by the returning Dave Gilbert (31st) and 16-year-old Courtenay Hamilton (33rd).
Cytlau said: "That's a better team performance than recently, now we have to maintain the recovery."
There was an outstanding run from international Gemma Turtle (Shaftesbury Barnet) in smashing the ladies record by half a minute with 15.55, the best in the UK this year.
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